The New York Police Department has increased its security presence at New York University after the school received multiple emails containing bomb threats, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, and other bigoted messages.
On January 22, shortly after 7 a.m., NYU announced that two emails had threatened violence at separate on-campus locations. One email contained a bomb threat targeting Palladium Residence Hall, while the other “included a threat to space within the Silver Center,” home to the university’s College of Arts and Sciences, reports Gay City News.
“The emails contain offensive language toward the LGBTQ+ community, and similarly reprehensible anti-Black, anti-Asian, Islamophobic, antisemitic, and anti-Jesuit targeted commentary,” read a campus security advisory posted on NYU’s website.
As reported by Washington Square News, NYU’s independent student newspaper, the New York City Police Department conducted a “top-to-bottom search” of the targeted buildings, and federal authorities were notified.
At 8:25 a.m., roughly an hour after the initial security alert was posted, a second alert reported that the NYPD had given both buildings the “all-clear,” allowing classes and other on-campus activities to resume, albeit with a heightened security presence.
NYU Campus Safety did not provide information about the sender of the emails or the recipients of the threats.
An NYPD spokesperson told Gay City News that “it appears these threats are unfounded,” and said police were investigating. A law enforcement source told the outlet that authorities believed the threat may have been an incident of “swatting,” in which a person falsely reports an emergency to trigger a heavy police response.
The alleged “swatting” threats follow a “hoax” shooting threat in September and a bomb threat targeting NYU shuttles in October, incidents that left campus safety on high alert.
According to New York ABC affiliate WABC, a similar threat was sent the same day to Villanova University, a private Catholic institution in Pennsylvania, targeting one of its academic buildings. Authorities said there is no evidence thus far that the threat was connected to those sent to NYU.
The university canceled classes and closed down the campus, advising students to stay in their residence halls and for non-residential students and faculty to stay away from campus while police and the FBI investigated the threat. Eventually, the campus was cleared of any active threats, and students were told they no longer had to shelter in place for the remainder of the day.
As one of his final acts in office, outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to distribute $2 million in "emergency funding" to roughly 20 organizations serving transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary New Yorkers.
The grants are intended to counter federal budget cuts and Trump administration efforts to block LGBTQ organizations -- particularly those serving transgender people -- from receiving federal funding, reports Gay City News.
The funding, the first of its kind in the nation, will be administered by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The money is intended to support community organizations providing services to gender-diverse communities, including "health and wellness, legal advocacy, youth and family support, safety and crisis response, community building, and economic empowerment," according to the release.
GLAAD has released new data showing that 1,042 anti-LGBTQ incidents were reported across 47 states and the District of Columbia in 2025 -- a 5% increase over the previous year, according to the organization’s ALERT Desk Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker.
Anti-LGBTQ incidents were defined as "an act of harassment, threat(s), vandalism, and/or assault against an individual, group, and/or organization," with explicit evidence of anti-LGBTQ bias as a motivating factor.
The incidents included 128 acts of hateful vandalism, 76 violent assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts.
A New York City subway rider was slashed in the face earlier this month by an unidentified assailant who took offense to him kissing his transgender partner. The attack occurred around 7:50 p.m. on January 10 aboard a southbound No. 6 train as it traveled through Manhattan.
According to police, the 28-year-old victim was kissing his partner when the suspect began shouting anti-gay slurs. The verbal abuse quickly escalated into a physical confrontation. During the argument, the suspect struck the victim with a sharp object, causing a deep laceration on the right side of his face, according to New York CW affiliate WPIX.
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